The Mirror Abyss fled in utter disgrace.

It never imagined that, with its food already right at its mouth, the man would actually slap it away!

Slap it away!!!

Luckily, it escaped quickly enough to avoid being captured!

With a slurp, it slipped out of the phone camera, then, using the sunlight as cover, it darted out onto the street.

Once it reached the street, it wasn't afraid anymore. There were far too many places to hide.

Rearview mirrors, shop windows, puddles on the ground… and... phones!

In modern society, everyone had a phone! Phones were great. Phones were absolutely wonderful.

Not only could it hide inside them, but they could also become hunting grounds.

The Mirror Abyss randomly picked a car window and, with another slurp, it slipped inside.

Then it looked back toward the way it came.

Good. The man didn’t catch up. He was still tangled up with the girl outside the sales office.

In that case, it would take the opportunity to replenish its energy!

The Mirror Abyss composed itself. Soon, it successfully attracted a passing young man.

“Hm?”

The young man happened to pass this sedan, an all-black electric car with a sleek, fashionable design and a kind of minimalist beauty.

The first thing that caught his eye was the car’s industrial design.

The second... was himself.

His reflection was in the driver-side window, and the clear glass reflected his young, handsome face.

The image wasn’t particularly sharp, but the sheer handsomeness of it was still obvious at a glance.

The young man scratched his head and secretly peeked toward the driver’s seat.

Excellent! Nobody inside!

Suppressing his embarrassment, he walked over.

Was this the first time he realized he was actually pretty handsome?

Looking at his reflection in the window, he couldn’t resist fixing his hair.

Damn, he looked good like this.

Damn, he looked good like this too!

What the hell was going on today? Did his inner narcissist suddenly awaken?

Why was he so handsome today that even he barely recognized himself?

While the young man happily admired himself in the window, the Mirror Abyss slowly poked its body out and revealed an evil grin.

Click!

Like a glass lid snapping shut, the young man was startled and abruptly lifted his head away from the window.

Then he discovered, in shock, that he was surrounded by car windows!

Above him! Below him! All around him!

Nothing but car windows! And every single window reflected an insanely handsome dude!

And that insanely handsome dude was him! He was that insanely handsome dude!

The corners of the young man’s mouth shot upward uncontrollably.

Then, one second later...

“Hm??”

Wait. Why were there so many car windows? What was going on?!

WHY THE HELL AM I SURROUNDED BY CAR WINDOWS?!

…

The Mirror Abyss patted its belly in satisfaction and left the window.

Like a silver snake, it slithered toward its next hunting ground.

Ah. There it was.

Halfway there, the Mirror Abyss narrowed its eyes in pleasure. The young man it had just eaten was beginning to feel afraid inside its belly.

It could sense it. That enormous contrast... that feeling of... joy turning to disaster.

Yes. This was its food.

First, it let humans immerse themselves in a beautiful illusion and willingly walk into its cage.

Then, click. The cage closed.

The stupid humans would immediately fall into panic, but panic itself wasn’t its food.

The plunge from heaven into hell... that emotional crash from extreme joy into sudden misery... that was the delicacy it craved.

So delicious…

Slurp.

When a prey enters its stomach, it imprisons them inside separate mirror cages like bunches of silver-white grapes.

Except instead of the grapevine providing nutrients to the grapes, it was the grapes providing nutrients to the vine.

This digestive method, in which each prisoner was isolated yet still interconnected, allowed it to feed and hunt at the same time.

Extremely efficient.

And so, bite after bite, the Mirror Abyss quickly found another suitable target.

It was a young man who was about to pass a street corner.

There was a convex traffic mirror at the corner, installed by humans so they could see approaching vehicles.

Normally, human reflections would be warped and distorted inside a convex mirror.

But didn’t suddenly becoming more handsome or beautiful count as distortion too?

The Mirror Abyss happily slithered into the convex mirror and quietly waited for the passerby to approach.

However...

“F***, Finally found you.”

The person who appeared in front of it was not the unsuspecting pedestrian.

Instead, it was the white-shirted man who was panting hard and drenched in sweat. He looked thoroughly pissed off and was radiating murderous intent after running two full kilometers under the blazing sun.

The Mirror Abyss: “?”

Wait. You? Are you talking to me?

The Mirror Abyss decided to play dead.

“F***! You’re still pretending?! Get the hell out here!”

The man roared and slammed his fist into the mirror!

BANG!

The Mirror Abyss was smashed so hard it nearly saw stars.

N-no... Wait? Huh? Hold on???

It was so dizzy that it simply failed to process what happened. Then it saw the furious man raise his second fist, clearly about to smash down again.

Terrified, the Mirror Abyss immediately slurped its way out.

Wait... how did he know I was hiding here?!

It fled in panic, and in the middle of its desperate escape, it happened to glance back and saw an eyeball with three pairs of wings hovering silently in midair.

Aha! So it was you!

The Mirror Abyss immediately recognized it as the A-class Aberrant Shadow Devourer!

Since they were both A-class and currently so close to one another, they could naturally perceive each other.

The Mirror Abyss cursed, “Shadow Devourer, you bastard! How could you become a human lapdog?! You’re a traitor to all Aberrants!”

Before Shadow Devourer could respond, the Mirror Abyss finished yelling and ran!

Now it understood why the Aberration Management Bureau’s white-shirted man managed to locate it so quickly!

Because that Aberrant traitor, Shadow Devourer, was leading him straight to it!!

But that still wouldn’t help.

It was fast, and with a slurp, it slid away.

Humans couldn’t see it at all. Not even combat personnel from the Aberration Management Bureau could.

Because not only was it an Aberrant, but its body also could perfectly reflect the surrounding light.

Forget humans. Even another A-class Aberrant like Shadow Devourer would be dazzled by the reflected light!

Therefore! There was absolutely no way that human could catch it...

Slurp.

The Mirror Abyss: “?”

It wriggled its body, attempting another slurp. But something clamped down on it with tremendous force.

The Mirror Abyss: “??”

It thrashed wildly, but the grip only became tighter.

In complete disbelief, it turned around and witnessed a sight that it would never forget for the rest of its life.

The plain-looking man in a white shirt and casual trousers was holding its tail in one hand with an impatient expression.

He lifted it up. Looked it over from top to bottom.

Left to right. Front to back.

Then said in disgust, “So you’re a ribbonfish.”

The Mirror Abyss: “?”

Ribbonfish? What ribbonfish?

Was “ribbonfish” supposed to mean it?

That salty, fishy-sounding, utterly uncool name that completely failed to match its beauty was meant for it?!

“What do you mean, ribbonfish?!” the Mirror Abyss roared while struggling. “My name is Mirror Abyss!”

Shadow Devourer said gravely, “Be grateful, Ribbonfish.”

The Mirror Abyss: “What?”

Shadow Devourer: "He used to call me Flapping Big Eyeball.”

The Mirror Abyss: “???”

HUH??? WHAT THE HELL!!!

The Mirror Abyss burned with rage and thrashed desperately, trying to use its natural slipperiness to wriggle free of the man’s grasp.

To its surprise, the man frowned in disgust.

Then...

WHAM!

He violently slammed it into the ground!

The Mirror Abyss: “???”

The man didn’t stop. After smashing the Mirror Abyss senseless with one blow, he grabbed its tail again and swung it in the opposite direction!

WHAM!

The ribbonfish’s head slammed hard into the paving stones!

The Mirror Abyss: “????????”

Before it could react...

WHAM!

WHAM WHAM!

WHAM WHAM WHAM!

“Stop! Stop smashing me! STOP!”

The Mirror Abyss completely broke down.

After being battered over and over, its whole body went limp and all its strength disappeared.

Like a deboned ribbonfish.

“Stop…”

The Mirror Abyss felt like it was about to throw up last year’s leftovers.

Weakly, it said,

“Stop hitting me… I can’t take it anymore… I-I’ll make a deal with you… I can make you the most handsome man in the world…”

“What are you babbling about?”

The man frowned.

One second later, he lost what little patience he had left.

WHAM!

WHAM WHAM!

WHAM WHAM WHAM!

WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!

Ribbonfish: deceased.

Now, the entire ribbonfish truly became a deboned ribbonfish.

Lin Jianyuan held the belt-like creature in one hand and examined it suspiciously.

The ribbonfish was barely breathing, and it looked slightly dead.

All the little toys in his trouser pocket began trembling collectively, especially Angel Eyeball.

As an Aberrant that once suffered the same beating after someone grabbed it by the base of its wings and slammed it into the ground, Angel Eyeball could empathize far too deeply.

Thanks for asking. The phantom pain was already starting. Sob.

The ribbonfish now looked completely incapable of resistance.

Lin Jianyuan casually tied it into several knots and bundled it into a ball.

“Abyssal Maw, open up,” Lin Jianyuan said.

“Coming, coming!”

The Abyssal Maw obediently opened wide like a kitchen-waste bin, even retracting its teeth.

Lin Jianyuan casually tossed the knotted ribbonfish inside.

His mobile terminal kept ringing to the point that it was nearly getting hot.

Lin Jianyuan raised his wrist and pressed the communication button.

“Caught it.”

“Looks like there are still a few people in its stomach.”

“We’ll get someone to cut it open later.”

Cut it open?

Cut... it... open??????

The ribbonfish, twisted into a ball, jolted violently.

It struggled upright from the garbage dump Abyssal Maw and screamed toward the dark sky,

“DON’T CUT ME OPEN! DON’T CUT ME OPEN! DON’T CUT ME OPEN! I CAN VOMIT THEM OUT! I HAVEN’T HAD TIME TO EAT THOSE PEOPLE YET! I CAN SPIT THEM OUT COMPLETELY UNHARMED! I PROMISE THEY’RE FINE! DON’T CUT ME OPEN! I’LL THROW THEM UP! I’LL DO IT RIGHT NOW! PLEASE DON’T CUT ME OPEN AAAAAAAAH!!!”

The offending Aberrant was contained, and every human victim was unharmed.

The Public Relations Department would handle the disturbance back at the sales office, and just like that, the incident was successfully resolved.

Except... Lin Jianyuan still had to go back and write the containment report.

His roommate was busy, so Lin Jianyuan got into the special vehicle that the Aberration Management Bureau sent to pick him up.

In order to avoid working overtime, he started writing the containment report while still sitting in the car.

Aberrant Name: [Slurping Ribbonfish]

Aberrant Class: A-class [High Risk]

ID: [XXXXXXX]

Current Status: [Contained]

“HUH?!”

The ribbonfish struggled to poke its head out from between the Abyssal Maw’s teeth and stared in utter disbelief.

“Slurping Ribbonfish?! Why is it Slurping Ribbonfish?! I HAVE A NAME! Didn’t I already tell you?! I’m called Mirror Abyss! How dare you humiliate a dignified A-class Aberrant like this?! My name is MIRROR ABYSS!!!”

A certain A-class Squishy thief: “.”

A certain A-class Little Stone: “.”

A certain A-class Flapping Big Eyeball: “.”

A certain A-class morally bankrupt Abyssal Maw: “.”

A certain A-class Socially Anxious Lego: “.”

Squishy shrieked in a high-pitched voice, “A name bestowed by the King! That is an enormous blessing! Just accept it!”

All the little toys chorused together: “A name bestowed by the King! That is an enormous blessing! Just accept it!”

The ribbonfish: “…”

Despair.

What kind of world is this?! I'm a perfectly normal Aberrant!

How did it end up surrounded by a whole pack of Aberrant traitors acting as human lackeys?!

They were even making it look like some kind of minority now!

Despair and misery.

It lost all hope in this abnormal, sick world!